Introduction to Sociology - The Carter Center

Introduction to Sociology
6.1. The Concept of Social Pathology
Social scientists usually talk about social pathologies or
social problems. Social pathologies have existed as long
as humans began living in groups. In other words, they
are as antique as humans themselves. The kinds of
social pathologies that baffle social scientists and moral
philosophers today were also topics of philosophical
inquiry for ancient and medieval philosophers and
religious thinkers. However, it may be appropriate to
argue that the profundity and scope of today’s social
problems are unmatchable with those of the past
(Ranchman, 1991; Zastrow, 1996).
The term pathology is a Greek word, which is composed
of pathos and logos. It literally means the study of
diseases and disease processes. The term social
pathology generally refers to the pathos of society, i.e.,
the "social diseases" that affect society. However, a
more explanatory term is social problems. Social
problems are those diseased conditions of society that
affect its normal functioning. A problem that is limited
only to the level of an individual person or to only few
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